The proposed Neuroscience Training Program will offer prospective predoctoral students an exciting curriculum taught by a nationally and internationally recognized faculty, and a laboratory experience that builds on expertise in translational neuroscience, basic neurobiology, psychiatry, and neurology, all uniquely 'interfaced'with one another due to close apposition of clinical and basic neuroscience research at the Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. At the heart of the Training Program is Mount Sinai's Neuroscience Ph.D., the school's second Ph.D. granting program (Biomedical Sciences being the first), that was endorsed by the New York University Graduate School and approved by New York State in 2007. Participating training faculty share a common thematic interest: study of the function and plasticity of specific neural circuits, during development, in the adult, and in the aged, diseased or degenerating nervous system. Varied laboratory opportunities at Mount Sinai School of Medicine take advantage of particular strengths in translational neuroscience, notably in developmental neurobiology, neural aging and degeneration, mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disease, cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience and neuroimaging, sensory signal transduction, neuroendocrinology and synaptic and behavioral plasticity. The nervous system is studied in diverse model systems, from 'simple'invertebrates such as the sea snail Aplysia, the fruit fly, or the worm C. elegans, all the way to complex vertebrates including nonhuman primates and humans. Students will receive a solid foundation in basic neurobiology, in a collaborative environment that actively promotes multidisciplinary, integrative research. Using this interdisciplinary approach, the Neuroscience Training Program will provide four students with the essential knowledge and experimental tools to initiate productive, independent careers in the laboratories of our training faculty. RELEVANCE: An estimated four million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, other neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson's disease, and neuropsychiatric disease, which cumulatively represent an incredible public health burden. The proposed Neuroscience Training Program will educate talented young scientists, thus providing a firm foundation for productive, independent careers in neuroscience research and teaching.